MAM RECORDSIndependent label: MAM Records was Set up in 1967 by
Gordon Mills, Tom Jones and Gerry Dorsey, MAM started life as Management Agency
and Music. In 1970 it extended its interests beyond artist management and
set up its own record label. The label was originally going to be called
'Button' and was going to number Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck amongst its
artists, but it ended up as just plain 'MAM' and they remained with Decca.
MAM released its first single in October 1970: it was Dave Edmunds's, 'I Hear
You Knocking' (MAM-1), which shot to No.1 in the charts. The third single,
'Nothing Rhymed', by Gilbert O'Sullivan, made it into the Top 10; O'Sullivan was
to be the label's principal hitmaker over the next four years. Lynsey De
Paul supplied three hits in 1972-73, but elsewhere successes proved hard to come
by. Towards the end of the decade MAM parted company with O'Sullivan,
who moved on to CBS and sued his old label; it kept on going into the '80s but
the glory days were over. MAM was handled by Decca and distributed by
Selecta until March 1976, when it entered into a licensing agreement with
EMI. The label remained basically the same, with just a change of wording
at the top and a slight shifting-around of the minor credits; in addition the
dinking perforations grew narrower. The catalogue series remained
unchanged, though the 'R' which had followed the 'MAM' on certain Decca issues
was no longer used - it had signified items which were subject to licensing
restrictions abroad. In October 1977, with MAM-168, the original black
label was replaced by something more adventurous; in 1977 the company was
revamping its label identity and direction, with new studios in Los Angeles
bringing in American products. All was not well, however, and managing
director Geoffrey Everitt was saying that the company had been in limbo for
a year but was looking for new acts and new employees. May 1979 saw
another change of label, to an eye-catching blue-and-white design, starting at
MAM-186. There seems to have been a slight hiatus shortly afterwards, as
no records were issued in the latter half of 1979. The company moved on to
Pye in 1980, at which point singles were numbered in the MAMS-200s, but it seems
to have stopped issuing records early in 1982. 1985 saw a merger with
Chrysalis to form Chrysalis Group Ltd, by which point most of MAM's revenue was
derived from jukeboxes, amusement machines and hotel interests. The first
two demo labels date from the early Decca era; early ones were merely issues
with extra wording on them, but from July 1972 they were coloured red, in common
with those of many other Decca group labels. EMI-era demos had the usual
EMI-family wording on them. Different company sleeves were used during the
Decca) and EMI eras. The discography gaps may be down to overseas releases
or numbers not being used. Thanks to Robert Lyons For The Info.